


Two hundred and fifty points!?

by happierhere



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Fighting, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hugs, Making Up, Pre-Relationship, pre-realising-they're-even-in-love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-24 04:36:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16633067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happierhere/pseuds/happierhere
Summary: Yasmin was curious. The Doctor was angry. Points were taken. Hugs were given.





	Two hundred and fifty points!?

**Author's Note:**

> I just wrote 2000 words because I wanted to know how Yasmin would respond to losing points...  
> It turned into fluff.

“Planet of the hats. She’s talked about it at least twice,” Ryan guessed.

 “Nah,” Yaz replied. “That sounds like a shop. She’d be bored in a minute. Something sciency, I reckon. She has been quizzing you about your NVQ again lately. Maybe spaceships, or robots?”

“Robots would be awesome!” Ryan agreed, with a longing look in his eyes.

They were lazing about, in the afternoon sun. The Doctor wouldn’t pick them up for hours, but when Ryan had called asking her if she wanted to ‘crack open a cold one’ with him, she had agreed, even though she had rolled her eyes at the expression. That boy watched too much telly.

Anything was better than being stuck in the house with her sister nagging her about _that bloke Ryan and her spending a lot of time with him and was she sure it didn’t meant anything more?_

She conveniently ignored that yes, she was spending time with him right now, doing something that some people could call a date. If not for the fact they had been spending the entire time talking about another woman. And she would certainly hope any date she would have in the future would bring more than a couple of cans and a bag of crisps. A picnic blanket would have been nice, for one.

Ryan crushed his empty can under his foot. She had been glad he had brought soda, and not beer. As a copper she could hardly be caught drinking in public. And as friends of the Doctor, they couldn’t really afford to be buzzed when danger oh so inevitably showed up at their doorstep.

Ryan lobbed his can at the nearby trashcan, but missed. With a sigh, he got up to clear his mess.

“Our luck, we’d probably meet Skynet’s big brother, with anger issues.” He noted.

Any response she had to that, was long forgotten when she heard _it_. The best noise in the world. A long groaning and wheezing that signalled the arrival of the Doctor.

She looked over to Ryan and saw a big grin on his face she was sure she mirrored on her own. They picked up their backpacks (hers now included a lighter, a flashlight, dry socks and a rope) and ran over to the Tardis before it was even fully materialized.

They stumbled through the door and ran almost straight into the Doctor. There they stood, bouncing on a sugar rush, apologizing profusely between their giggles.

The Doctor however was not amused. The older woman dusted her jacket and stood straighter, putting her hands on her hips, staring right at Yaz.

“Yasmin Najia Umbreen Khan. Minus two hundred and fifty points for you!”

Too baffled by the turn of events, Yaz didn’t even register the fact The Doctor had just made up several middle names for her. She very eloquently responded: “Huh?”

And promptly wanted to hide behind the console when the glare deepened. The Tardis would let her, wouldn’t she?

Next to her, Ryan froze. “Well, you guys have a lovely chat, while I’ll go and warn Graham that you’ve arrived early, Doc.”

Without waiting for a response Ryan left, leaving Yaz to the mercy of the Doctor.

_Ta, mate. Great help you are._

In the little corner of her mind, the list of the Doctor’s expressions got another addition: glaring-and-angry-face. Yaz did not like this one at all.

 

***

To her own surprise, she was still angry.

The Tardis had tried to dissuade her from travelling straight from Bristol to Sheffield. She detoured to another place and time, in an effort to distract the Doctor. She had to admit: visiting the first Viareggio carnival parade in 1873 had been awfully tempting. Those masks looked rather snazzy.

But apparently she was stubborn now and put her foot down, wanting to confront Yaz immediately.

Still so much to learn about this new body, that felt so much more. Her last body was better at hiding emotions, even from himself. She missed that sometimes. All these feeling were confusing. Anger she knew. But this wasn’t proper anger. This was something more sad.

_Focus, Doctor._

“Why were you snooping into my past?” she demanded.

The confused look on Yaz’s face made her stop and think. She hadn’t really paid attention to the time and had just directed the Tardis towards Team Tardis’ next appointment. Oh dear, had it happened yet for the younger girl?

“Saint Luke’s?” She offered and felt relief and a new wave of frustration when she saw the recognition in Yaz’s eyes.

“I wasn’t _snooping_.” her companion started to defend herself.

“I heard you,” The Doctor huffed. Huffing was now another thing she did. “On the phone. Asking about him. About me.”

She had snuck over to the university to collect the photographs of River and Susan, along with some knick knacks he used to have lying around in his office. Hoping to steal a picture of his former companion from her campus file, she had wandered into the administration’s office.

 _Because yes, pictures help when people are gone._ Why he never asked Bill for any of those inane selfies she liked to take, was beyond her. Even the most blurry of pictures would have made a cherished memento.

And then she had overheard an interesting telephone call.

“I’m not denying it. I called.” Yaz explained, raising her hands slightly in a defensive move.

The Doctor willed herself to be breathe a little easier. Last thing she wanted was for Yaz to become afraid of her. Feel a little chastised, sure. But afraid. Never!

“Why?”

“I just…” Yaz shrugged, seemingly searching for her words. The Doctor might be stubborn, but she could be patient too.

“On Cashel last week you mentioned teaching a class on chemistry whilst playing a guitar. I was bored the other day, so I Googled it: University, Doctor, Guitar. And I found several blogs about a popular science professor.”

After seventy years of teaching, the Doctor supposed some social media presence was to be expected. It wasn’t good however. She liked to keep a low profile. With the exception of her inclusion in the Book of Celebrants off course… Maybe she should ask UNIT to do something about that. And about the rumours about Bill eloping with her elderly professor and his valet. Bill would be so disappointed …

Ah, now she realised. This feeling wasn’t anger. It was disappointment.

 

***

Funny thing was, Yaz hadn’t even planned on researching the Doctor. She had just chucked a few words into the search engine. Like looking up old classmates on Facebook, because you were curious. No harm, right?

Except she had found a YouTube video of a grey haired men enrapturing his crowd and had remembered what the doctor had said about having been Scottish and angry before. She had called the university on a whim. Not that she had gotten far. The faculty was rather tight-lipped about the whereabouts of Professor Smith.

The Doctor meanwhile rambled on: “That was dangerous, Yaz. What if he – I mean I – had answered the phone? I would have known you before I had gotten to know you!”

“You wouldn’t have remembered one phone call,” Yaz scoffed at her suggestion. She wasn’t an idiot. She would have made something up.

“As if I could forget your lovely voice, Yaz.” The Doctor exclaimed exasperated.

Yaz felt her cheeks redden. Somehow even when telling her off, the Doctor succeeded in complementing her.

“Going back on your own past could have catastrophic outcomes. Remember your…”

The Doctor fell silent, cringing slightly. Yaz felt cheeks redden further, this time in shame. The Doctor didn’t need to mention her Nan for her to receive the message loud and clear. She could admit she had been wrong. She just hadn’t been thinking of the ramifications of her actions. _Again._

“I’m sorry, Doctor.”

They stood there for a few moments, the Tardis filling in the silence with soothing whirring and whizzing. Yaz tried very hard not to squirm under the Doctor’s apprising look.

“But?” The Doctor asked. As much as she had gotten to know the Doctor and her idiosyncrasies, the other woman had been getting rather good at reading her as well.

“I…” Yaz faltered.

How could she explain what she barely understood herself? _I want more_ , she had told her once upon a time. _More of the Universe. More time with you_. And it was still true. She also wanted to know more about her. Everything about her, a sneaky little voice inside her head – that disturbingly sounded a lot like her mother – said. She soldiered on.

“You talk about these amazing things all the time. Venusian Judo. Meeting Cleopatra. Being Banksy. I just wanted to know if it was true. I wanted to know… more.”

 

***

 

Disappointment long forgotten, the Doctor reached out for her friend and squeezed her shoulder.

“Next time just ask, okay? I know I have a tendency to blather on,” She play-glared at Yaz’s knowing chuckle, “but I mean it. Anytime. Just ask. I’ll answer.”

 _Rule Number One: The Doctor lies._ That wasn’t her anymore. And just to prove it to herself, she continued. Learning that she was now not only stubborn, but perhaps a tad too impulsive.

“Any question, right now. Just ask. I’ll tell you everything you want to know!”

Before she even finished the sentence, she had already regretted starting it. What if Yaz asked about how her previous self went missing? Or about Bill? How she died? She didn’t think she could talk about it yet. Not out loud, with this voice, in this body that felt so many feelings.  

But Yaz surprised her: “What’s your favourite food?”

She took a moment to think about it. She had promised a honest answer after all.

“Cookies don’t count?” She tried. Because those pedal-biscuits – yes, she was calling them that now – were amazing. Yaz’s smile and shake of the head confirmed it.

What had she eaten recently? Angstrom’s food rations. A simple stew in India. A rather forgettable hamburger in Alabama. Nothing really stood out. She never gotten to taste Yaz’s dad’s pakoras. Those would have probably rated high, just by being Yaz’s Dad’s.

“I don’t know.” She concluded. And to her dismay saw Yaz’s face fall.

“No, really. I explained about regeneration, yeah?” At Yaz’s nod, she continued. “Every cell in my body gets renewed. New brain, new kidneys, new hair – still not ginger! - and also new tastebuds.”

Yaz was smiling again, she noted relieved.  

“It’s rather annoying actually.” She blathered on. “Not knowing what you like. Having to taste everything and discovering you really don’t like banana’s this time around.”

She suddenly remember eating sushi and jelly babies. She probably still liked the latter. None of her regenerations ever disliked sugary goodness. Other combinations now struck her as odd.

“Earlier me really liked fish fingers and custard,” she admitted, in a stage-whisper.

“That’s not too bad. I like both too,” Yaz answered confused.

“At the same time?”

Yaz’s face twisted in disgust. The Doctor just laughed, both at her face and at the bittersweet memories.

“Well, there is only thing to do now.” Yaz spoke confidently.

_What?_

_“_ What?”

“We have to go find Ryan and Graham. And then order an obscene amount of take-away so you know what you like again.”

“Oh yes, brilliant idea!”

She drew Yaz into a hug, and felt the younger girl melt into her grasp. “Five point to Yasmin Kahn.”

_A hug is just another way to hide your face._

She didn’t agree with previous self. Hugs were amazing. And she really didn’t need to see Yaz to know there was a small pout on her face now, being reminded of the point loss. The girl really was too competitive.

“So about those two hundred fifty points?” The Doctor should have known she would try this. And maybe another version would have caved at the cute pout. Not her though. She was stubborn now.

“Nope. Not getting those back. But I’ll give you another point for this lovely hug.” She teased.

“So, 249 hugs to go,” Yaz teased right back.

244, the Doctor thought, but kept quiet. Gift horses and all that.

She broke the hug and gave Yaz a playful nudge towards the Tardis’ doors.

“Onwards to our next culinary adventure!”


End file.
